You ni Suru/Naru in Japanese

In Brief

ようにする presents something as a goal you deliberately work toward: “make sure to,” “try to,” or “arrange things so that.” ようになる presents it as a change in state: “come to,” “start to,” or, with a potential verb, “become able to.” Compare 毎日読むようにしています “I make a point of reading every day” with 毎日読むようになりました “I have started reading every day.”

Overview

The two patterns ようにする and ようになる share the same core image: reaching or maintaining a certain way or state. The final verb tells you how to view that state. する (“do; make”) highlights deliberate control, effort, or arrangement. なる (“become”) highlights the resulting change, whether it happened through practice, circumstances, or a natural development.

English often uses several different expressions for these ideas: “make sure,” “try to,” “get into the habit of,” “start,” and “become able to.” Japanese brings them together in a highly productive pattern. This makes the distinction useful well beyond literal translation: choosing する or なる shows whether you are focusing on the effort or the outcome.

At B2, the main task is not simply memorizing two endings. You should learn how tense and aspect (the way a language presents an action as ongoing, completed, or habitual) affect the meaning, how negative and potential forms fit into the pattern, and how these expressions differ from ことにする・ことになる.

How It Works

Attach ようにする or ようになる to the plain nonpast form of a verb. The plain nonpast form is the basic form without ます, such as 食べる, 行く, or しない.

Form before ように	Pattern	Main meaning
affirmative nonpast verb	Vる + ようにする	make an effort/arrange to do V
negative nonpast verb	Vない + ようにする	make an effort/arrange not to do V
affirmative nonpast verb	Vる + ようになる	come to do V; start doing V
negative nonpast verb	Vない + ようになる	come not to do V; stop doing V
potential verb	V-られる / V-える + ようになる	become able to do V

Here Vる is shorthand for a plain affirmative verb; it does not mean that every verb literally ends in る. For example, 書くようにする and 話せるようになる follow the same pattern.

ようにする: effort, policy, or arrangement

In a personal statement, ようにする often means that you will try to follow a rule or achieve a repeated behavior:

• これからは早く寝るようにします。 — From now on, I’ll make sure to go to bed early.
• 甘い物を食べすぎないようにしています。 — I try not to eat too many sweets.

The simple form ようにする can announce an intention or describe a general strategy. The progressive form ようにしている usually presents an ongoing policy or regular effort. Although している often translates as English “is doing,” here it commonly means “has made it a practice to.”

The subject need not be controlling only their own behavior. The pattern can also mean “arrange things so that”:

• 全員が参加できるようにしました。 — We arranged it so that everyone could participate.

This use is often followed by a potential form because the action creates the conditions that make something possible.

ようになる: a new state or habit

ようになる reports a change between an earlier state and a later one:

• 最近、朝ご飯を食べるようになりました。 — Recently, I’ve started eating breakfast.
• 前ほどテレビを見ないようになりました。 — I no longer watch as much television as before.

The new behavior may result from conscious effort, but なる does not foreground that effort. It reports what is now true. A time expression such as 最近, 練習してから, or 日本に来てから often makes the change clearer.

With a potential verb—a verb form meaning “can do,” such as 読める or 話せる—the pattern describes an acquired ability:

• 漢字が少し読めるようになりました。 — I have become able to read some kanji.

Japanese normally marks the thing that can be done with が in this construction: 日本語が話せるようになる. In everyday speech, を is also heard with some potential verbs, but が is the safest standard choice for learners.

Negative forms

Place the negative inside the clause, before ように:

• 忘れないようにする — make sure not to forget
• 肉を食べないようになる — come not to eat meat

These are not identical to an English command such as “don’t forget.” 忘れないようにする describes an effort or policy; 忘れないようにしてください asks someone to take care to prevent forgetting.

Tense belongs mainly to する or なる

The verb before ように normally remains nonpast. Put the relevant tense on the final verb:

Time/viewpoint	Example	Meaning
intended policy	運動するようにします	I will make sure to exercise.
ongoing effort	運動するようにしています	I make a point of exercising.
past effort/arrangement	運動するようにしました	I made an effort/arranged to exercise.
completed change	運動するようになりました	I started exercising.
current resulting state	運動するようになっています	It has come to be set up/established so that exercise occurs.

The last form is context-dependent and is especially common for systems, designs, or established arrangements; it is not simply a longer substitute for ようになりました.

Requests with ようにしてください

Vる / Vない + ようにしてください is a polite instruction to ensure that something does or does not happen:

• 遅刻しないようにしてください。 — Please make sure not to be late.
• 申込書は金曜日までに出すようにしてください。 — Please make sure to submit the application by Friday.

It is common in notices, workplace instructions, classrooms, and explanations of procedures. It can sound more indirect than a plain imperative, but it still communicates an expectation. It is therefore not automatically “soft” in every situation.

Examples in Context

Japanese	English	Note
毎日運動するようにしています。	I make sure to exercise every day.	An ongoing personal habit or effort
夜はコーヒーを飲まないようにしています。	I try not to drink coffee at night.	A continuing negative policy
大事な予定はカレンダーに入れるようにします。	I’ll make sure to put important plans in my calendar.	A newly stated intention
子どもにも読めるように、漢字にふりがなを付けました。	I added furigana to the kanji so that children could read it too.	Arrangement for another person’s ability
最近、野菜をよく食べるようになりました。	I’ve recently started eating vegetables often.	A changed habit
引っ越してから、車を使わないようになりました。	Since moving, I have stopped using a car.	A negative change: no longer doing something
毎日練習して、速く泳げるようになりました。	By practicing every day, I became able to swim fast.	An acquired ability
日本語が話せるようになりました。	I’ve become able to speak Japanese.	Potential form + ようになる
このボタンを押すと、画面が明るくなるようになっています。	When you press this button, the screen is designed to become brighter.	A system’s designed behavior
忘れ物をしないように、出かける前に確認しています。	I check before leaving so that I don’t forget anything.	Deliberate prevention
遅刻しないようにしてください。	Please make sure not to be late.	Polite instruction
音が外に漏れないようにしてください。	Please make sure the sound does not carry outside.	Request to ensure a result

Notice that the fourth and tenth examples contain ように purpose clauses followed by a separate action. They show the idea underlying ようにする: someone takes action so that a desired state becomes possible. In the fixed pattern, する itself carries that sense of deliberate action.

Common Mistakes

Swapping effort and outcome

• Wrong for the intended meaning: 毎日走るようになっています。 (“I make a point of running every day.”)
• Right: 毎日走るようにしています。
• Why: The speaker is describing a deliberate ongoing practice, so use する. Use 走るようになりました when reporting that running has become a new habit.

Using ます before ように

• Wrong: 早く寝ますようにしています。
• Right: 早く寝るようにしています。
• Why: The verb before ように takes its plain form, while politeness appears on the final verb しています.

Putting the negative on the final verb

• Wrong for “I try not to forget”: 忘れるようにしません。
• Right: 忘れないようにしています。
• Why: The desired state is “not forgetting,” so ない belongs before ように. The wrong version merely negates making an effort to forget.

Using a non-potential verb for acquired ability

• Wrong for “I became able to read kanji”: 漢字を読むようになりました。
• Right: 漢字が読めるようになりました。
• Why: 読むようになった means “started reading.” To express ability, change 読む to its potential form 読める.

Treating ようにしてください as a casual favor

• Awkward in a close, immediate request: ちょっと窓を開けるようにしてください。
• More natural: ちょっと窓を開けてください。 — Please open the window.
• Why: ようにしてください is well suited to rules, precautions, and behavior to maintain. For one simple action requested on the spot, てください is usually more direct and natural.

Usage Notes

Deliberate habit versus observed habit

English “I started exercising” can describe either a decision or the resulting change. Japanese makes the viewpoint easier to state precisely:

• 運動するようにしました。 — I made a deliberate change so that I exercise.
• 運動するようになりました。 — I came to exercise / started exercising.
• 運動するようにしています。 — I make a continuing effort to exercise.

The first can refer to adopting a rule, the second looks back at the change, and the third stresses maintenance. Real situations can support more than one form; the choice is about what the speaker wants to highlight.

Voluntary and non-voluntary changes

ようになる works both with chosen behavior and with abilities or developments that are not directly willed. For example, 赤ちゃんが歩けるようになった reports developmental ability. By contrast, personal ようにする normally implies some control. If the desired result is not directly controllable, it often means taking steps or arranging conditions rather than simply willing the result into existence.

Written and spoken register

Both patterns are normal in conversation and writing. ようにしてください is especially frequent in formal instructions and public guidance. In casual speech, ようにして may be used as an instruction among people with an established relationship, but tone matters: it can still sound like a reminder or order.

In speech, ように is sometimes pronounced quickly, but learners should keep the full form in careful speech and writing. Do not confuse it with みたいに, which can mean “like” in casual comparisons and does not replace these habit-and-change patterns.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

Contrast with ことにする and ことになる

These pairs overlap, but their focus differs. こと treats the clause as a decision, rule, or determined fact. よう points toward a behavior or state that is achieved, maintained, or developed.

Pattern	Typical focus	Example
Vることにする	make a decision	来年、日本へ行くことにしました。 — I decided to go to Japan next year.
Vるようにする	make an effort, habit, or arrangement	毎日、日本語を読むようにしました。 — I made it a practice to read Japanese every day.
Vることになる	a decision or arrangement is made, often externally	来月、大阪へ転勤することになりました。 — It has been decided that I will transfer to Osaka next month.
Vるようになる	behavior, ability, or state changes	大阪に住んで、関西弁が分かるようになりました。 — After living in Osaka, I came to understand the Kansai dialect.

A single decision can lead to a continuing habit, so both may appear in sequence: 健康のために歩くことにして、毎朝歩くようになりました — “I decided to walk for my health, and I came to walk every morning.”

Causative ようにする and avoiding ambiguity

When arranging another person’s behavior, context identifies who acts:

• 学生が質問できるようにしました。 — I made it possible for students to ask questions.

This normally means creating suitable conditions, not forcing the students to ask. If you mean “make someone do something,” Japanese has a causative verb form, such as 学生に発表させる (“make/have the student present”). ようにする is generally less direct and focuses on producing the conditions or policy.

ようになっている for design and established rules

On appliances, websites, and systems, ようになっている describes how something is designed or set up:

• ドアを開けると、電気がつくようになっています。 — The system is set up so that the light comes on when the door opens.
• 会員だけが予約できるようになっています。 — It is set up so that only members can make reservations.

Here the form does not necessarily describe a recent personal change. It presents the current mechanism or arrangement as an established state.

Do not confuse verb + ように with noun + のように

The related A2 pattern ように also expresses purpose or manner, and noun + のように means “like” or “in the manner of”: 鳥のように飛ぶ (“fly like a bird”). That comparison pattern is structurally different from 毎日読むようにする. The shared word よう helps explain the historical connection, but the constructions should be learned as separate practical patterns.

Practice Tips

1. Build three-sentence sets. Choose one behavior and say it as a decision or effort, an ongoing practice, and a resulting change: 早く寝るようにしました → 早く寝るようにしています → 早く寝るようになりました. This trains viewpoint rather than translation.
2. Pair abilities with evidence. Practice potential verbs with a before-and-after context: 前は読めませんでしたが、今は新聞が読めるようになりました. The contrast makes ようになる feel natural.
3. Listen for the final verb. When you hear ように, wait for する, している, なる, or なっている. The ending tells you whether the speaker means effort, habit maintenance, change, or an established setup.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: ように (Purpose/Manner) — introduces ように in purpose and manner clauses, the foundation for these extended patterns.